The Unforgivable Sin

JESUS HAS BEEN BUSY! HE IS ACTIVELY PURSUING HIS MISSION. AFTER HIS BAPTISM AND TESTING IN THE DESERT, JESUS IS CALLING HIS FIRST DISCIPLES, CURING DISEASES, HEALING PEOPLE OF SICKNESS AND EVEN DEMON POSSESSION.

HE IS IN AND OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE TEACHING AND AMAZING THE PEOPLE BECAUSE HIS WORDS CAME WITH AUTHORITY. NEWS OF JESUS SPREADS RAPIDLY ACROSS THE WHOLE REGIONS OF GALILEE. CROWDS BEGIN TO FOLLOW JESUS EVERYWHERE.

BECAUSE OF JESUS, THE LAME WALK, THE BLIND SEE, ILLNESSES VANISH, PEOPLE RISE FROM THE DEAD AND EVEN THE DEMONIC ARE CRYING OUT “YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD!” THIS ATTENTION ISN’T GOING UNNOTICED! JESUS IS ALSO ATTRACTING ANOTHER CROWD: THE PHARISEES. THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS HAVE HAD ENOUGH.

THEIR CHILLING WORDS RECORDED IN JOHN 3:6, “THEN THE PHARISEES WENT OUT AND BEGAN TO PLOT WITH THE HERODIANS HOW THEY MIGHT KILL JESUS.” HIS FAMILY WAS CATCHING ON.

YES, THEY THOUGHT HE WAS DEMENTED, CRAZY, AND HAD GONE MAD! SO, THEY ARE HOPING TO GRAB HIM OUT OF THE CROWD TO TAKE HIM HOME. THEY ARE TRYING TO SAVE HIM FROM HIMSELF, BUT ALSO TRYING TO GET TO HIM BEFORE THE LEGAL AND RELIGIOUS EXPERTS DID.

THE CAMPAIGN TO DISCREDIT, DESTROY AND KILL JESUS IS NOW UNDERWAY BECAUSE THE SCRIBES HAVE COME FROM JERUSALEM. THIS TELLS US THAT JESUS WAS ATTRACTING ATTENTION IN VERY HIGH PLACES WITH THE SANHEDRIN AND THE RELIGIOUS ORDER.

THEY BEGIN MAKING ACCUSATIONS THAT JESUS IS POSSESSED BY THE PRINCE OF DEMONS, THE DEVIL, HIMSELF. THEY ARE TRYING TO SET JESUS UP UNDER FALSE CHARGES OF NOT ONLY BEING DEMON POSSESSED, BUT WORKING IN ALLIANCE WITH SATAN.

REMEMBER! THEY WANT JESUS DEAD, SO THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE HIM OUT AS A FALSE PROPHET WHO IS BREAKING THE LAW. THEY KNEW THAT MISLEADING GOD’S PEOPLE WHILE “UNDER THE INFLUENCE” OF THE DEMONIC CARRIED THE PENALTY OF DEATH.

DEUTERONOMY 13:5, “THE FALSE PROPHETS OR VISIONARIES WHO TRY TO LEAD YOU ASTRAY MUST BE PUT TO DEATH, FOR THEY ENCOURAGE REBELLION AGAINST THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHO REDEEMED YOU FROM SLAVERY AND BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT. SINCE THEY TRY TO LEAD YOU ASTRAY FROM THE WAY THE LORD YOUR GOD COMMANDED YOU TO LIVE, YOU MUST PUT THEM TO DEATH. IN THIS WAY YOU WILL PURGE THE EVIL FROM AMONG YOU.”

THEY ARE TRYING TO GET THE LAW TO DO THEIR DIRTY-WORK. SO, JESUS RESPONDS WITH TWO SHORT PARABLES. FIRST, HE ASKS “HOW CAN SATAN DRIVE OUT SATAN?” JESUS IS STATING HOW ILLOGICAL IT IS TO THINK THAT SATAN WOULD NOT ONLY WELCOME JESUS, BUT EMPOWER HIM TO HELP DESTROY SATAN’S KINGDOM.

SATAN IS TOO SMART TO ALLOW A DESTRUCTIVE DIVISION TO RISE UP WITHIN HIS OWN KINGDOM. WHY WOULD SATAN WANT TO NOT ONLY PUT HIIMSELF “OUT OF BUSINESS,” BUT ALSO OUT OF EXISTENCE BY WELCOMING JESUS IN TO DESTROY HIM?

THE SECOND PARABLE, OF “ENTERING THE STRONG MAN’S HOUSE,” JESUS IS SAYING THAT WHOEVER CASTS OUT SATAN WILL NEED TO BE MUCH STRONGER THAN HE. JESUS IS SAYING THAT HE IS THE ONLY ONE CAPABLE OF ENTERING SATAN’S REALM TO DEFEAT HIM AND EVERYTHING EVIL. JUST THE ADVENT OF JESUS, ALONE, PROVES 1 JOHN 3:8, THAT“THE SON OF GOD CAME TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.”

JESUS WAS NOT IN LEAGUE WITH SATAN, AS THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS TRIED TO CLAIM. INSTEAD, JESUS STILL ENDURES MORE ACCUSATIONS THAT HE IS POSSESSED BY EVIL SPIRITS. JESUS RENDERS ONE FINAL TEACHING ON FORGIVENESS.

HE FIRST ADDRESSES ALL SINS OF BLASPHAMY WHICH ARE THE SINFUL, IMMORAL AND IRREVERENT WORDS AND ACTIONS AGAINST GOD. THIS ALSO INCLUDES ALL SIN IN GENERAL.

THIS IS WHY WHEN THERE IS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, CONFESSION AND REPENTANCE, NO SIN IS BEYOND GOD’S FORGIVENESS. 1 JOHN 1:9, “BUT IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS TO HIM, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS AND TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL WICKEDNESS.

HOWEVER, JESUS POINTS OUT ONE PARTICULAR SIN THAT CANNOT BE FORGIVEN. JESUS SAYS, “WHOEVER BLASPHEMES AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN NEVER HAVE FORGIVENESS, BUT IS GUILTY OF AN ETERNAL SIN.” WHAT JESUS MEANS IS THIS IS A SIN THAT REFERS NOT SO MUCH TO A SINGLE ACTION OR WORD, BUT TO AN ATTITUDE.

IT IS AN ATTITUDE OF HEART AND MIND SHOWING UNBRIDLED HOSTILITY TOWARDS GOD AND LIVING LIFE IN COMPLETE DEFIANCE TOWARDS GOD’S POWER AND MAJESTY.

THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WERE CREDITING GOD’S POWER, SHOWN THROUGH JESUS, AS COMING FROM SATAN. ISAIAH 5:20,“WHAT SORROW FOR THOSE WHO SAY THAT EVIL IS GOOD AND GOOD IS EVIL, THAT DARK IS LIGHT AND LIGHT IS DARK, THAT BITTER IS SWEET AND SWEET IS BITTER.”

SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS. HARDNESS OF HEART. IT IS A PERSON WHO ALLOWS THEIR HEART TO BECOME HARD AS STONE AND THEIR MINDS THOROUGHLY SEARED BLACK BY THE EVIL OF SATAN THAT TURNING TO GOD, THROUGH REPENTANCE, ISN’T EVEN A THOUGHT. PSALM 10:4, “IN HIS PRIDE THE WICKED MAN DOES NOT SEEK HIM; IN ALL HIS THOUGHTS THERE IS NO ROOM FOR GOD.”